What do you know about the effect on property value of being in a University City flood plain?

What do you know about the effect on the property value of being in a U City flood plain?

Also, I asked the listing agent if it was in a flood zone and he said that it is only the 100-year zone.

Does that mean that there is a difference? My client is thinking about purchasing a house in U City but is concerned about the flooding issue and his insurance rates.

The property flooded back in 2008 due to heavy rain and had a few inches of rain in the basement. MSD installed a device in the sewer that is suppose to prevent this from happening again.

Do you happen to know anything about this device?

Answer:

I’m familiar with the situation.

There are various flood planes throughout St. Louis. And they are named for the amount of time they think will pass before the next flood. The 100-year flood plain crosses through a section of University City and will require the owner to acquire flood insurance.

The price and process can be a hassle as the government through FEMA are the only ones that offer this insurance.

As for the sewer, MSD has had several issues with University City. In 2008, we got 4.5 inches of rainfall in 3 hours and the sewers backed up into people’s basements. MSD developed the SSP (Sewer Separation Program) for eligible neighborhoods that have been affected by the backups.

I happen to live in one of those neighborhoods and am having a SSP put in my front yard right now. The way it is explained is that it will prevent the main sewer line from backing up into my house by creating a disconnect in the instance that the sewers back up. All my neighbors have them installed after 2008, and they have not had any problems with sewer backups since.